Wearing apparel



Sept. 3, 1940. A, BUCHANAN 2,213,900

WEARING APPAREL Filed Feb. 13, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORN EYS Sept. 3, 1940. A. BUCHANAN WEARING APPAREL Filed Feb. 15, 1939 s Sheets-Sheet 2 l NV E N TO R A/ef/zafiachanan BY M ATTORNEYS Sept. 3, 1940. A. BUCHANAN 2,213,900

WEARING APPAREL Filed Feb. 13, 1939 s Sheets-Sheet s ATTORNEYS the garment material,

Patented Sept. 3, 1940 UNITED STATES WEARING APPAREL Aletha Buchanan, Great Neck, N. Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to T'rousarobe, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 13, 1939, Serial No. 256,069

1 Claim.

This invention relates to wearing apparel for Women and girls, and more particularly to garments of the legged type such as pajamas, culottes, or slacks. 1

It is a primary object of the invention to provide a very full legged garment, so constructed and arranged that portions at the front of the garment running from a point at least waist high downward to a point well below the crotch, and hence well into the leg portion, may be united at will to provide a central area which extends straight across the front of the body and which hangs smoothly from the waist like a skirt, so that it is not possible for an observer to discern from the front that the garment includes sepa rate leg portions rather than a skirt.

To the attainment of the above stated object it is a feature of the invention that the legged garment or legged portion of the garment is formed at the sides with pleats and at the front of the waist with rather deep front pleats whose exposed folded edges are adapted to stand substantially in abutting relation and to be detachably connected to one another to form an inverted pocket. the pleats and of the fullness of the leg portions, when the front pleat edges are united, is adapted to hang vertically and straight across the front of the body from the waist downward as far as the union of the pleats may extend. Such union is desirably carried down so far that the fact that the garment includes leg portions which extend separately around the two legs of the wearer is effectively disguised or concealed.

The junction of the front pleats and of the legportions may be effected by any suitable fastening means, such as buttons, hooks and eyes, clasp fasteners or a zipper. The zipper is regarded as the most practical and desirable means of quickly and neatly connecting and disconnecting the adjacent edges of the pleats, both because of the rapidity and convenience with which a zipper can be manipulated, and also because of the smooth, seamless appearance which it gives to the front of the garment.

The garment may or may not include a waist or body portion as desired. In the former case the garment is in the nature of a pair of pajamas or culottes adapted to be made to resemble a dress; in the latter case it is in the nature of a pair of slacks adapted to be made to resemble a skirt.

In either case the fabric at either side extends around the waist of the wearer and inward to- By reason of the provision of ward the front to the top of the exposed, folded edge of a pleat, is thence folded under and outward for a substantial distance representing the width of the pleat or one-half of the width of a pocket to be formed jointly by the pleats, and is thence turned under and extended inward to bring its edge into position to be united to the corresponding edge of the complementary side member of the garment. The several plies of pleat forming fabric are all stitched to the waistthese underlying flaps are arranged to be quickly joined or separated at will, provision being made for their separation in order to enable the narrow waist portion to be passed over the hips when the garment is taken off. The separable union of the upper ends of the underlying flaps is desirably secured through the application of a zipper which is closed by drawing the zipper runner upward, and is opened by drawing the zipper runner downward.

It'will be observed, as has already been suggested, that the two pleats at the front of the garment, when united, jointly form an inverted pocket extending from the waist downward at the front of the body, the pocket having a rear wall adjacent the body of the wearer, and a front wall which is covered by the outer ply of pleatforming material. Thus the disposition of the garment material which enables the garment to hang smooth and straight in simulation of a skirt across the front of the body serves further, to provide a triple thickness of fabric down the middle of the front. The extra thicknesses of material are desirable for shadow-proofing and for avoiding too close conformity of the outer fabric to the body of the wearer.

It is a further important point that the middle of the back of the garment is, so far as the garment fabric is concerned, substantially duplicative of the front of the garment. In this case, however, there is no provision for detachably securing the edges or margins of the pleats to one another, but they are permanently stitched together for a sufficient distance to extend below the seat portion of the garment. This forms an inverted pocket at the back similar to that which may be formed at the front. The provision of extra thicknesses of material has the advantage that the garment is caused not to conform. objectionably to the body of the wearer, while the provision of the joined pleats or pocket causes garment.

the material to hang downward straight and smooth from the back of the waist in simulation of a skirt or dress.

The garment may terminate with a waistband to which the upper edges of the leg material and of all the pleat plies are stitched, the waistband being capable of being opened at the front.

It may, on the other hand, include an upper or body portion in which the body portion is open at the front in line with the pleat seam and the waistband opening at the front of the This seam can be opened completely when the garment is to be taken off, but can be closed in any suitable manner when the garment is put on.

The closure of the seam and the joining of the pleat and leg portions is desirably effected by means of a zipper which runs continuously from the neck opening downward as far as the leg portions are to be united. This zipper'is opened from the bottom upward by drawing the .zipper slide upward. When it is desired to wear the garment in simulation of a dress or skirt, the

zipper slide may be pushed down to the lower extremity of the zipper. When it is desired to wear the garment so that it appears as a legged garment, the zipper runner is drawn upward substantially to the waistline of the wearer. In-

termediate positions for the zipper runner can be chosen, if desired.

When the garment is to be taken off, the zipper slide is drawn farther upward to the neck opening of the body portion, and the runner is detached from one section of the zipper hooks. Whether or not the garment includes a body portion, however, the operation is the same. The zipper runner is in either case run to the upper end of the zippe'r and detached from one set of the zipper hooks, leaving the outer front seam fully'open. I The underlying seam at the center of the front of the garment is then opened to free the waist portion of the wearer.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings forming part of this specification and illustrating a practical and advantageous embodiment of the invention: t

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of the garment with the front center seam fully closed so that the garment looks like a dress;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, but with the front center seam open from the bottom upward asfar as the waist so that the garment looks like a pair of lounging pajamas;

Figure 3 is a view in rear elevation of the garment of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1, but showing the outer center seam at the front of the garment fully open and the inner center seam partly open;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view in sectional elevation taken on the line 55 of Figure 3 look- .ing in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view, on a larger scale, taken on the line 66 of Figure 5 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 7' is a fragmentary, horizontal sectional View, also on a larger scale, taken on the line 1-7 of Figure 2 looking in the direction of the arrows; and i Figure 8: is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 88 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows. 1

' The illustrative garment l is of the type which includes a body portion 2, a waistband 3 and I each desirably formed of front and rear pieces which areconnected to one another along inner and outer seams. The inner seams come together at the crotch of the garment and from that point upward the meeting edges of the rear pieces are secured to one another all the way up to f the waistband, while the meeting edges of the front pieces are permanently secured to one another for only a short distance toward the front.

At the front the inner margin 1, Figs. 2 and '7, of the left leg piece 5 is adapted to be lapped over the inner margin 8 of the right leg piece 6 to form a fly l3, Figs. 4 and '7. The fly is adapted to be closed by a zipper 9. The zipper comprises a runner or slide l0 and tapes having zipper hooks afixed. One tape H is secured to the margin 8 so that the hooks protrude a little beyond the edge of the margin 8, while the other tape i2 is secured to the under side of the margin 1 so that the zipper hooks are located back from the edge fabric layers 15 and Hi. All three layers of the front pleat M are stitched together to the waistband 3. Adjacent the outer or exposed folded'edge ll of the front pleat M a zipper tape I8 is stitched to'the fabric layers or plies l5 and I6 against.

the under face of the ply l5. The zipper hooks carried by the tape I8 stand substantiallyflush.

with the edge H. The construction of the righthand leg member 6 at the junction with the waist band 3 is the same as that already described with reference to the left-hand leg member 5. Since the pieces are substantial duplicates or mirror images corresponding reference numerals with a subscript a have been applied to corresponding parts and no further detailed description will be given. The point is to be noted, however, that the margin 7 desirably does not extend as far toward the right as the edge I1, and that the margin 8 extends farther toward the left than the edge Ha.

The zipper tapes [8 and we extend downward along the front pleats substantially below the crotch of the garment and well into the leg portion. They extend upward through the waistband 3 which is open at the front, and through the body portion 2 to the neck opening 19.

When the outer zipper is fully closed, the runner or slide 2 is at the lower end of the zipper as illustrated in Figure 1. When the runner or slide 2! is in this position, the garment hangs straight across the front from the waist downward to the position of the zipper slide. From that point downward the leg portions are not united, but the garment material is so full that the fact that they are separate leg portions is fully concealed or disguised. When the zipper slide is in the position shown in Figure 1,v the center seam through the body portion 2 and through the waistband 3 is closed.

When it is desired to wear the garment as pajamas, the zipper slide 20 is drawn upward to the position illustrated in Figure 2. In this position the leg portions are absolutely free and 7 the length of the pleat to simulate a skirt.

the wearer is accorded unrestricted freedom of movement. When it is desired to take the ga;- ment oil, the zipper slide 2d is run upward to the top of the zipper hooks and detached from the hooks carried by the tape it as illustrated in Figure 4. The inner zipper slide ill is then run downward to open the fly so that the waist portion of the garment can be passed down over the hips.

it has been mentioned that the back pieces of the leg portions 5 and 5 are joined at their meeting edges up to the waistband. The construction at the hack of the garment is similar to that at the front, but there is no provision for justments to he made: at the Each of the back pieces includes a deep rear pleat 2!, Fig. 6, comprising an inner fold or margin 22, an in termediate fold 23, and an outer fold The edges of the folds 22 are stitched to one another by stitching 25, and the outer or exposed folded edges 26 are stitched to one another by stitching 2i. The upper edges of all three folds 23 and 24 are stitched to the waistband 3. The stitching 2i unites the edges 26 down to the region of the point marked 28 in Figure 3 which is below the crotch of the garment. By reason of the described construction, an inverted pocket 29 is provided across the middle of the back of the garment, and by reason of the provision of this inverted pocket the garment is caused to extend smoothly across the back and to hang smoothly downward from the waistline at the back in the manner of a dress or skirt. As in the case of the pocket formed at the front of the garment when the zipper slide 28 is drawn downward to a position like that of Figure 1, the presence of the pocket serves to provide surplus layers of fabric to prevent objectionably close conformity of the garment to the body of the wearer.

As shown in Figure 8 the leg portions 5 and ii are provided with side pleats Ea and 6a which add to the fullness of the garment. When the zipper slide 2% is drawn downward to a position shown in Figure l, the connection of the front pleats has a tendency to constrict the garment At this time the pleats 5a and 5a in addition to pleats M are more or less unfolded but when the slide 253 is drawn upward all of the pleats mentioned merge with the leg portions to give the fullness desired.

The garment has been illustrated and described as including a body portion 2. It is readily apparent, however, that the invention is notconfined to a garment of this character, but that it may be applied to a pair of slacks for adapting the slacks to be altered to resemble a skirt. In such a case, the body portion 2 would simply be omitted from the garment and the zipper slide 2% would be made detachable from the zipper hooks carried by. the tape 58 at the upper end of the waistband.

Reference to the leg portions as composed of front and back pieces is not intended to mean that each of these pieces is necessarily one integral section of fabric. Each piece may be composed of one or more fabric sections as found desirable and convenient.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

A garment comprising in combination leg portions, a waist portion and a body portion, said leg portions being permanently connected to the waist and body portions and united with one another along a central line through the crotch, said leg portions being provided with pleats at the sides'thereof and with rear meeting pleats at the center of the back of the garment, said rear pleats being permanently attached together from the waist portion downward to substantially knee level, said leg portions also being formed with wide front pleats at the front of the garment, each front pleat extending from the waist portion to substantially knee level, each of said front pleats comprising inner and outer layers of fabric folded over into contacting engagement with each other, said inner layers having marginal portions forming a waistband closure for the waist portion and having cooperating slide fasteners attached thereto, zipper tapes attached to the rear surfaces of the inner fabric layers and each having a series of hooks secured thereto and a zipper slide cooperative with said series of hooks to form a pleat seam when the slide is moved downward and to open the same when the slide is moved upward, said first movement of forming the pleat seam serving to constrict the garment from the Waist portion downward to substantially knee level to simulate a skirt, said side pleats and said inner and outer layers of the front pleats merging with said garment from the waist portion to substantially knee level to increase the garment area when said pleat seam is opened to simulate a legged garment.

ALETHA BUCHANAN. 

